


The Crow Who Dreamt of Flying

by Yrindor



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Blind Hinata Shouyou, Gen, Mentioned Azumane Asahi, Mentioned Kageyama Tobio, My First Work in This Fandom, Sugawara Koushi is Too Nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 19:04:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5217251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hinata had always dreamed of following in the Small Giant's footsteps and joining the Karasuno volleyball team, but he was only in his first year of middle school when his failing vision forced him to stop playing.  Sugawara is asked to show him around on his first day of high school, and the setter convinces Hinata to come to one of their team practices.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Crow Who Dreamt of Flying

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to Furudate Haruichi.

Hinata waited nervously inside the front door of the school. The year had technically started a couple of weeks earlier, but it had taken his family a while to move and get settled in, so it was his first day. He hoped he was in the right place; someone was supposed to meet him and show him around, but so far he'd just been waiting awkwardly.

"Hinata Shōyō-kun?" A gentle voice startled him out of his thoughts, but it was calm enough that it immediately put him at ease.

"Y…yes," he stuttered.

"Sugawara Kōshi. I'm a third year here at Karasuno. I was asked to show you around. You're in class 1, right?"

"I think so. I mean, yes. Yes, I am," Hinata said, tripping over his words.

"Great. Your classroom is on this floor, down the hall on the right. You can leave your shoes here. Your locker is the top one at the end of the row closest to this wall. That's an okay spot, right?"

"That's fine, thank you," Hinata replied as he crossed the space between the wall and the lockers, using his cane to find the edge of the lockers, then following it until he reached the end of the row.

"I'll show you your classroom now," Sugawara said once Hinata was ready. "If you'll just follow me…ummm…."

"Can I take your arm, Sugawara-san," Hinata offered. It had bothered him at first, but by now he was used to the awkward dance that always took place as people tried to figure out how to guide him.

"Of course," Sugawara replied, and after a minimum of fumbling, Hinata was following him across the entryway.

"There's one step up here," Sugawara warned as they reached the transition from the entry to the rest of the school. "The main hallway runs off to our right; that's where your classroom is. The lunchroom is at the end of that hallway. There's a smaller hallway directly in front of us, and some of the club rooms are there. The main staircase is at the end of that hallway; that's how you get to the second and third-year classrooms and the teacher's offices; they're all up on the second and third floors. Any questions?"

"Not yet."

"I'll show you your classroom then. It's the third classroom on the left in this hallway," Sugawara said as he turned down the hall. Hinata followed close behind him, one hand on Sugawara's arm and his other hand guiding his cane back and forth in front of them.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, but the bathrooms are right at the beginning of this hallway," Sugawara added. "The girl's room is first, and the boy's room is just after it. And there's a water fountain between that and the first classroom." Hinata could hear the motor running in the fountain even over the noise of students talking, and he made a mental note of it for future reference.

"Suga," someone called, and Hinata felt the older boy turn.

"Ah, good morning, Asahi."

"Daichi wants to talk to you at lunch. He has a few plays he wants you to look over before practice."

"Of course. Let him know I'll find him," Sugawara replied, and Hinata heard the other boy walk away.

"You play sports?" Hinata asked.

"I'm on the volleyball team. I'm a setter."

"Volleyball, huh," Hinata said wistfully. "I remember watching the Small Giant play on TV. I thought I'd follow in his footsteps and join the volleyball club here, but fate clearly had other plans."

"Why don't you come to our practice today?" Sugawara asked. "I can come get you at the end of the day."

"I can't see, Sugawara-senpai. I can play volleyball anymore."

"I think you might be surprised. Will you come just this once?"

"I suppose so," Hinata replied, feeling somewhat obligated to attend to thank Sugawara for showing him around. "Thank you, Sugawara-senpai."

Just then, the warning bell rang.

"Your classroom is here," Sugawara said, guiding Hinata across the hall. The morning sun shone directly in through the classroom windows, and Hinata could see the bright patches the open doors cast out in the hall. "Your desk is the last one in the row next to the windows. Do you have any questions for me now? Otherwise, I'll come back at lunch."

"I think I'm fine for now. Thank you again, Sugawara-senpai," Hinata said as he sat down at his desk.

Hinata made it through most of the morning without incident, and true to his word, Sugawara came back at the beginning of the lunch break and showed Hinata the lunchroom. The room was large and crowded, and Hinata was glad he had brought his own lunch so that he wouldn't have to navigate the lines.

Returning from lunch, he missed a doorway and ended up in the wrong classroom, but his fellow students were quick enough to direct him back one classroom over. Other than that, the afternoon was relatively uneventful as well, but by the end of the day, Hinata was getting increasingly nervous about the volleyball practice. He half-hoped Sugawara would forget about it entirely, but he wasn't surprised when Sugawara showed up in the classroom a couple of minutes after the final bell and brought him to the gym where the volleyball team practiced.

As soon as he walked into the gym, Hinata froze. The echoing sounds of everyone practicing in the large space were overwhelming and disorienting, and he pressed himself into the wall behind him until he could get his bearings.

"Rolling Thunder!!!" someone yelled, and it was followed by the sound of someone coming directly at him at high speed. He tried to jump backwards, but he was already against the wall, and he accidentally dropped his cane in his scramble.

The person stopped suddenly right in front of him. "Nishinoya Yū, Karasuno's Guardian Deity," he said. "Who're you?"

"H…Hi...Hinata Shōyō," Hinata mumbled. "I'm a first year. Today was my first day, and Sugawara-senpai was kind enough to show me around and invite me to practice."

"You play?"

"I used to," Hinata began, but before he could finish explaining, someone called practice to order. Sugawara took a minute to introduce Hinata to the rest of the team before they started. The names all blurred together, and Hinata knew it would take far more than a couple of brief greeting for him to match names to people.

Then practice began in earnest, and Hinata sat down against the wall and listened to the sounds of balls bouncing, shoes squeaking, and players shouting. Near the end of practice, he heard someone approach him.

"I overheard you telling Nishinoya that you used to play volleyball," Sugawara said. "How's your spiking?"

"Not great," Hinata admitted honestly. "My vision was already starting to fail when I joined the middle school team, and I couldn't track the ball well enough to spike. I didn't even make it a full year before my vision got so bad I couldn't play at all anymore."

"Would you like to spike now?" Sugawara asked, and Hinata looked at him incredulously.

"I don't think I can, Sugawara-senpai," Hinata replied, but before he could say anything more, Sugawara interrupted him.

"I think you might be surprised. Kageyama's an excellent setter. He's working on improving his accuracy, so there's nothing to lose. What do you think?"

"I guess I could try," Hinata said, standing up and picking up his cane from where he had dropped it earlier. He still thought it was a terrible idea bound to end at least in embarrassment if not in disaster, but Sugawara could be oddly compelling.

Sugawara guided him across the gym. After over an hour of listening, Hinata had separated out many of the sounds in the gym, and it was no longer nearly as disorienting as it had been when he first walked in. Once they reached where Kageyama was practicing, Sugawara formally introduced him to the setter, and Hinata thought Kageyama didn't seem too thrilled by his presence.

Sugawara guided him around the edge of the court to give him a sense of the space, then left him in one corner. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"What am I doing?" Hinata replied, still at a loss as to how Sugawara ever thought this would work.

"You've spiked before, right?"

Hinata thought back to middle school. He had practiced his form for hours, but the couple of time he had actually tried it with a ball, he had missed completely. "In theory," he said honestly, "but I never actually hit the ball."

"Try again now. Run to wherever you want, jump as high as you can, and spike hard. Kageyama will take care of the rest. Can I hold your cane for you?"

Hinata reluctantly handed his cane to Sugawara. He always felt like something was missing without it, especially in an unfamiliar place, but he knew it would only get in his way when he jumped.

"Whenever you're ready," Sugawara said.

Hinata tried not to feel too foolish as he ran forward a few steps and jumped, picturing the Small Giant playing and trying to mimic his motions. He drove his hand forward, fully expecting to hit empty air, so he was shocked when the ball slammed into his palm.

He was grinning wildly when he landed. "Did you see that, Sugawara-senpai!?" he exclaimed.

"That was awesome, Hinata-kun!" Nishinoya yelled, running over and clapping him on the shoulder. "You were like POW!"

Hinata nodded. "And then it was like BAM! It was awesome!" he said, jumping up and down excitedly. "Thank you, Kageyama-san; you're amazing.

"And thank you for inviting me to practice, Sugawara-senpai. I was really nervous at first, but I'm glad I came," Hinata said as Sugawara returned his cane. By then, the rest of the team was starting to clean up, so Hinata went back to stand by the wall to stay out of their way.

Most of the team members had already left to change and go home by the time Sugawara came over to guide Hinata back to the front of the school. "Sugawara-senpai," Hinata said quickly before he could change his mind. "I know I can't play, but would you mind if I sat in on practices sometimes? I don't want to be a bother, but I had a lot of fun today, and the whole team seems really nice."

"I was hoping you would ask that," Sugawara admitted. "I was talking to Kiyoko after practice, and she's looking for an assistant manager. How would you feel about that?"

"Really! I could be an official part of the team?"

"If you want to. It will be a lot of work, but we'd love to have you."

"I'd love to, Sugawara-senpai! I thought I'd never play volleyball again, but then, today…" he raised his hand. "I can still feel the ball hitting my hand. I never thought I'd get to feel that. Thank you."

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing these characters. I've had this idea bouncing around since I first watched the episode where Hinata spikes Kageyama's toss for the first time.
> 
> Comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated.


End file.
